Robin Good: Participatory culture writer and book author Henry Jenkins interviews cyberculture pioneer Howard Rheingold (Net Smart, 2012) by asking him to explain some of the concepts that have helped him become a paladin of the and "new literacies" so essential for survival in the always-on information-world we live in today.

This is part three of a long and in-depth interview (Part 2, Part 1) covering key concepts and ideas as the value of "community" and "networks", the architecture of participation, affinity working spaces, and curation.

Here is a short excerpt of Howard response to a question about curation and its value as both a “fundamental building block” of networked communities and as an important form of participation:

Howard Rheingold: "...at the fundamental level, curation depends on individuals making mindful and informed decisions in a publicly detectable way.

Certainly just clicking on a link, “liking” or “plussing” an item online, adding a tag to a photograph is a lightweight element that can be aggregated in valuable ways (ask Facebook).

But the kind of curation that is already mining the mountains of Internet ore for useful and trustworthy nuggets of knowledge, and the kind that will come in the future, has a strong literacy element.

Curators don’t just add good-looking resources to lists, or add their vote through a link or like, they summarize and contextualize in their own words, explicitly explain why the resource is worthy of attention, choose relevant excerpts, tag thoughtfully, group resources and clearly describe the grouping criteria."

In other words, "curators" are the ones creating the metadata needed to empower our emerging collective intelligence.

Curation Is The Social Choice About What Is Worth Paying Attention To.

It's interesting interesting that you mention POV and stance, as that is not something I had explicitly articulated for myself, but naturally it must be implicitly true. In that sense, it reminds me (again) that curation forces self-reflection in order to present the content better, and that can only be a good thing.

8. This links a series of three interviews quite lengthy but there is some insightful information for the novice in the digital information age. There is video links within the article, including a great question and answer with Robin Good on curation. The video brings a balance to this inclusion.

"...I consume a lot of information across an incredibly wide spectrum of disciplines and sources, always aiming to synthesize the meaningful and connect it with something else for a larger portrait of what matters in the world."

Robin Good's insight:

Maria Popova is the editor of Brain PIckings, a unique blog site cum newsletter that curates stories and articles from the web that stimulate the mind of the curious and which provide insight into the type of culture we live in.

In an excellent 2010 interview written by Chris Allison, Maria explains what she defines as curation and how she goes about it in her every day work.

In her definition: "Brain Pickings is a highly curatorial endeavor. And the art of curation isn’t about the individual pieces of content, but about how these pieces fit together, what story they tell by being placed next to each other, and what statement the context they create makes about culture and the world at large.

Every piece of content on Brain Pickings is hand-picked for embodying the sort of cultural interestingness at the core of our curatorial vision – it’s creative, compelling and makes a meaningful contribution to the world; it offers a justification to be curious and enriches you in the process of indulging that curiosity."

Maria also provides great examples of curation at work, and explains how all of the advertising on her site is "pro bono" and fitting her objective of curating in full the reader experience. In other words, Maria curates which ads are showcased on her site by selecting those reflecting companies and products she actually believes in for free.

She also provides a valuable, and much valid to this day, vision for the future of curation and curators. Niche specialization, is in this case, the name of the game.

Sharing your scoops to your social media accounts is a must to distribute your curated content. Not only will it drive traffic and leads through your content, but it will help show your expertise with your followers.

Integrating your curated content to your website or blog will allow you to increase your website visitors’ engagement, boost SEO and acquire new visitors. By redirecting your social media traffic to your website, Scoop.it will also help you generate more qualified traffic and leads from your curation work.

Distributing your curated content through a newsletter is a great way to nurture and engage your email subscribers will developing your traffic and visibility.
Creating engaging newsletters with your curated content is really easy.